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*GDP down 4.2 pct year on year in June. MOSCOW, July 28- The sharp decline in Russia's economy may have almost run its course, official data showed on Tuesday, slowed by a huge devaluation of the rouble and heavy government spending on anti-crisis measures. The economy has slumped as a result of Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine conflict and last year's...

MOSCOW, July 28- Russia's gross domestic product shrank by 4.2 percent in June from a year earlier but the contraction was shallower than May's revised 4.8 percent fall, adding to signs the economy may have started to stabilise. Russia's growth prospects deteriorated sharply midway through last year, when an existing slowdown was compounded by Western...

MOSCOW— Russia says it is considering banning imports of cut flowers from The Netherlands, a move that would aggravate tensions between the two countries already at odds over the downing of flight MH17. National veterinary agency Rosselkhoznadzor said Monday it has urged the European Union's organization for plant protection to review certification for...

MOSCOW, July 24- Russian gas company Gazprom said on Friday it had lodged a case against Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz at the international arbitration court in Stockholm over the price in a supply contract. The move came two weeks after Turkmenistan accused Gazprom of not paying for gas supplied from the Central Asian country this year. Gazprom, the world's top...

BERLIN, July 23- German exports to Russia slumped by 34 percent in the first five months of the year to 4.4 billion euros due to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, a lobby group representing German industry in eastern Europe said on Thursday. If this trend continues, exports to Russia could fall by around a third to about 20 billion euros...

July 21- U.S. and Israeli authorities arrested four people in Israel and Florida on Tuesday in connection with several fraud schemes tied to last summer's massive data breach at JPMorgan Chase& Co, according to news reports. The hacking of JPMorgan's computers compromised information in 83 million household and small business accounts, making it one of the...

NEW YORK— Two men were arrested Tuesday in Israel and a third was being sought after a New York indictment accused them of trying to cheat millions of people in a stock spam scam. Attorney Preet Bharara announced the arrests by the Israel police of a man from Savyon, Israel, and another from Bat Hefer, Israel. A third defendant, a U.S. citizen who lives in Moscow and Tel...

*Russian billionaire Yuri Milner funding 10- year project. SAN FRANCISCO/ LONDON, July 20- Scientists are about to embark on the biggest search yet for alien life, sweeping the skies for signals of civilisations beyond our solar system with $100 million from a Russian billionaire and the backing of physicist Stephen Hawking. It's time to commit to finding the...

Add to the list Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, who announced on Monday that he plans to spend $100 million to explore the idea. "It's the most interesting technological question of our day," Milner said in an interview, noting that he became fascinated by the notion of extra-terrestrial life after reading astrophysicist Carl Sagan's "Intelligent Life in the...

ATHENS, July 20- Once again Alexis Tsipras was struggling to make a decision. For hours on July 13, the Greek prime minister and Europe's leaders had been trying to thrash out a new deal to bail out bankrupt Greece and keep the country in the euro zone. Now a clean copy of the latest text had been printed, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois...

The reason, they believe, is a combination of sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine and rising hostility to Russia in the West seeping into the scientific community. Since Russia annexed Crimea last year, it has become almost impossible for scientists in Russia to buy anything in the United States or Japan that has a dual purpose, said physicist...

LONDON, July 20- Oil prices steadied on Monday after data showing a sharp drop in Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports balanced signs of rising refined products stocks. Brent crude for September was 5 cents up at $57.15 a barrel by 0825 GMT. Oil prices have fallen for three weeks in a row on expectations of increased exports from Iran following a deal to ease sanctions...

Both international and U.S. crude futures posted their third consecutive weekly losses last week on expectations of increased exports from Iran following a deal to ease sanctions against the OPEC producer. Brent September crude was 12 cents lower at $56.98 a barrel by 0316 GMT. Should WTI get back to a level seen last month around $60 a barrel, "U.S. producers will...

U.S. crude was down 5 cents at $50.84 by 0056 GMT, after falling more than 3 percent last week and more than 14 percent in July. Schlumberger NV said it is betting on an uptick in demand in coming quarters for oilfield services in North America, a market that has been battered by a steep drop in oil prices. Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options...

*Opel originally planned to sell over 80,000 cars in Russia. BERLIN, July 17- General Motors' Opel division said on Friday it will cut production at two German factories as it grapples with lost volume after exiting the plunging Russian market. Opel, which had originally planned to sell over 80,000 cars in Russia this year, aims to shorten hours at its main plant in...